SQ Week Day 4: Illness
by JumptheThunder
Summary: This is just a little one-shot dealing with Emma finding out that Regina had a hysterectomy. It's mostly fluffy and sweet, just a moment of love and caring between our two favorite ladies. Established Swan Queen. I'm rating it as K because, though they are both technically naked, nothing even remotely sexual happens...so, yeah...T seemed a bit much.


"What do you mean **you have cancer**?!" Emma shrieked, sitting bolt upright from what had been an extraordinarily comfortable position resting her head in the crook of Regina's neck, lightly running her fingers over the bare flesh of her stomach. It had been the perfect, relaxing morning until she'd slid her finger over a small scar low on Regina's abdomen and found herself asking _'What's this from?'_ The last thing she'd expected to come out of Regina's mouth, especially in that nonchalant tone of voice, was _'My hysterectomy."_

"Not have, Emma, had. I **had** cancer." Regina remained where she was, reclining on the bed with her head propped up just so against a pillow and the headboard. She was looking at Emma like she was blowing things entirely out of proportion, though her expression softened a bit as Emma's lower lip began to quiver.

"But, you just said you had your uterus removed because of uterine cancer? How does that not mean that you have cancer?" Emma was rocked back on her knees now, hands gripping her thighs with white knuckles. Somewhere in the back of her mind it occurred to her that this was an awkward conversation to be having while completely naked, but at the moment she needed answers.

"Yes, I **had** my uterus removed, and yes I **had** cancer, but I've been free of it for almost 25 years now." Her voice had turned soothing and soft in a way that had been reserved for only Henry until very recently.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I go back to Boston every 5 years for a check-up now, but I was lucky, we caught it just early enough and the surgery was quite successful."

Emma let out a long breath, her shoulders relaxing ever so slightly before something occurred to her and her face creased in concern once more.

"If you've been better for almost 25 years, and Storybrooke has only been around for 30, when were you diagnosed?" There was more than a little trepidation in her voice, like she wasn't sure she wanted to think about what the answer would mean.

"6 months after we arrived." Now it was Regina's turn to sound uncomfortable, the memory of it all something she had purposely pushed from her mind as best as she could. Emma sucked in a breath and bit down on her bottom lip, one hand reaching out for Regina's and twining their fingers together.

"Alone? You went through that alone, didn't you?" Regina's silence was all the answer Emma needed. "Shit Regina. I can't even imagine. How did you even find out? Did you know you were sick when you cast the curse or...?" She trailed off, lost in the possibilities. Regina closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her courage in order to open up to Emma. She understood why Emma had questions, why she needed to know. It was just that she'd never, ever, had anyone care to ask, or really care at all.

"No, I didn't know I was sick before the curse. Quite frankly, I'm pretty sure I wasn't." Emma looked confused again. "You know how I told you that I can't have children?" Emma nodded. "Well that's been true since long before this" She gestured to her scars. "Back in the Enchanted Forest my mother attempted to manipulate me into carrying an heir and I realized that she would take any child of mine and corrupt them the way she did me. To prevent that I took a potion that rendered me sterile."

Emma was horrified, but kept her lips sealed tightly, allowing Regina to continue. Her next words were so soft Emma almost couldn't hear them, as if Regina was speaking to no one but herself, letting a quiet afterthought slip out, eyes lost somewhere over Emma's shoulder.

"I regretted doing that every single day, until Henry." Eyes refocusing, clearing her throat and looking slightly unsettled by her admission, she continued. "I believe it was something to do with that very potion that caused my cancer. I never entirely understood how it worked, magically I mean, but I think that, when I came to a world without magic, the damage I'd done to my uterus morphed into cancer. I knew something was wrong when I started bleeding. I hadn't, you see, not since I'd become sterile. It took a few years, between the surgery and chemotherapy, but then I was in remission, and I have been ever since."

"Regina...I'm so sorry. You must have been terrified." Emma's grip tightened on the hand she held in hers, squeezing just enough to show her support, just enough to try to communicate that she wasn't going to let go.

"I was. I really was."

"No one should have to go through that, nevermind alone. That's just not right." The conviction in her voice was touching, and Regina gave Emma a rueful smile in response.

"I'd been alone for a long time, Emma, I didn't expect anything else."

"That doesn't make it right Regina. You didn't deserve that."

"Didn't I? After everything I'd done, didn't I deserve at least that?" Emma's free hand rose to cup her cheek,

"No. You didn't." The green eyes burning into her own were clear, the sheer volume of Emma's belief in her made her heart clench.

"I love you." Regina's voice was a cracked whisper, followed by an uneasy chuckle as she attempted to pull herself together and regain her composure. Emma's wide lips blossomed into a sparking smile.

"I love you too." With a gentle tug on their linked hands, Regina pulled Emma back down to her earlier position, helping her settle in comfortably and placing a kiss onto the top of blond hair. Before she let herself succumb once more to the peace she felt whenever she was in Regina's arms like this, Emma lifted her head and regarded her seriously.

"You're sure you're not sick?" Her voice sounded years younger, a childhood haunted by loss creeping into her throat.

"Yes Emma, I'm sure I'm not sick." Her fingers slid into Emma's hair and applied just enough pressure to lead her head back down against her chest.

"Mmmm, okay." Emma nuzzled against her, almost completely relaxed once more, before popping her head back up. "But Regina?"

"Yes dear?"

"If you were sick, if you get sick again, you won't be alone. Not anymore, not ever. I promise." Tears immediately filled Regina's eyes, cresting over her lashes and tumbling down her cheeks. Without waiting for a response Emma leaned in to press the lightest of kisses to Regina's lips and then tucked herself back down, wrapping an arm across Regina's waist and tangling their legs together. Regina allowed the tears to fall, a look of wonder on her face as her fingers absentmindedly stroked through Emma's hair, marveling-not for the first time-at how incredibly, unbelievably, astonishingly wonderful her life had become.


End file.
